How Millennials’ Personality Traits Influence Their Eco-Fashion Purchase Behavior

Abstract

This study examined how millennials’ personality traits (i.e., ecological consciousness and social consciousness) influence their behavior outcomes (i.e., purchase intention and willingness to pay more) in the eco-fashion context by applying attribution theory. This study also tested the moderating effect of need for variety on the relationship between millennials’ personality traits and their behavior outcomes. A focus group including 9 participants and an online questionnaire involving 141 participants were used to accomplish the purpose of the study. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test how well the measured variables represented the various constructs, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hierarchical relationships among millennials’ personality traits and their behavior outcomes. The results indicated that millennials’ ecological consciousness and social consciousness positively influenced their purchase intention and willingness to pay more for eco-fashion. Furthermore, the results supported the existence of a moderating effect of millennials’ need for variety on the relationship between social consciousness and willingness to pay more. Specifically, when millennials had a higher need for variety, their social consciousness had a stronger positive effect on willingness to pay more for eco-fashion. This study extends previous work involving attribution theory by affirming that millennials’ eco-fashion consumption behavior is influenced by their personality traits such as ecological consciousness and social consciousness. In addition, this study has managerial implications for apparel manufacturers, designers, and retailers and offers suggestions for educators in fashion marketing.

Keywords

• millennials’ personality traits
• ecological consciousness
• social consciousness
• eco-fashion
• attribution theory
• purchase intention
• willingness to pay more